Is a shop responsible for a tradesman they recommend?

mighty_hammers

My parents spent a fair amount in a bathroom shop and hired the bathroom fitter they recommend who worked for many of their customers. He finished the majority but there were a few things he. Was coming back to do. The outside tap that he moved but now leaks. He refuses to answer emails & phone messages. Where does my father stand? Or should he give up

Hintza

I have always presumed that retailers like to blur the lines with this arrangement. Who is to blame when something goes wrong?

I imagine there is not much to be done, has he spoken to the shop? Could make himself rather loud in the shop one day.

One argument the shop could have though is an outside tap is hardly part of a bathroom.

At the end of the day the fitter is not employed by the shop so they are not responsible, but certainly make them aware of his shoddy work and hopefully his work will dry up.

System

The question to ask is whether your neighbour would be responsible if they recommended him?

They answer will be the same in both situations

unholyangel

Is the guy a ltd company or a sole trader?

yangptangkipperbang

The answer to your question is NO.

The shop "recommended" him, you employed him, you didn't have to take their man. Did they actually "recommend" this man ? or was their use of words equally wooly ?
As Hintza says it is a good way of "offloading" any potential problems elsewhere.

giantmutantbroccoli

As everyone else has said, the shop isn't responsible. However, they would probably want to know if the guy they are recommending does poor quality work, and they might well have a better method of contacting the guy than you have. It's definitely worthwhile telling them that you're having trouble getting in touch with the fitter they recommended and asking if they have any other ways of contacting him, or if they could maybe ask him on your dad's behalf to get in touch.

browneyedbazzi

The shop isn't responsible but your parents should let them know about the bad experience with the fitter because they probably wouldn't carry on recommending the guy if they know he can't be trusted to do the job.

Have you parents paid for all the work already?

cajef

We had a bathroom fitted last year, one local branch of a national company where we looked in their bathroom showroom would not recommend a fitter but offered us a list of fitters that had done work for them.

In the end we actually went with small local independent bathroom fitters who sourced and supplied the units we wanted and gave us trade discount on the items.